Reaction of activists to the report by Tajikistan TV

On July 18, 2023, a report by the state channel “TV Tajikistan” about President Emomali Rahmon’s visit to Saudi Arabia for the Central Asian and Arab Gulf States Summit sparked discontent among Tajik social media users both in the country and abroad. Social media users criticized “TV Tajikistan” for referring to the Persian Gulf as the “Arab Gulf.”

Tajik poet and journalist Zafar Sufi, residing in France, reacted to the report from Tajikistan’s television.

“No diplomacy or financial interests are worth renouncing one’s national identity and changing the historical name of a region! Defending the desires of others to the detriment of one’s compatriots is treason and is unforgivable! The name of this gulf is the PERSIAN GULF, despite the ill-wishers and their foolish followers! A few dirty dollars from the Arabs are not worth denying your past! You should be ashamed! Shame on you!,” the poet writes.

Zafar Sufi also addressed the authorities in Iran.

“This is Rahmon… His attitude towards the Aryans is only for his interests and merely verbal, while their lands hold no value for him. However, those who are the heirs of these lands, such actions harm them, so why do they always pretend not to see anything? Don’t they know that a beggar needs to be pointed out in a timely manner so that he does not overstep his bounds? In general, why do the authorities in Iran repeatedly pretend not to see such actions by Rahmon?,” Zafar Sufi expresses his outrage.

“Where are you, Alexander the Great, the television of Tajikistan has sold your Persian Gulf to the Arabs! Tajikistan’s television has crossed all boundaries of audacity in its recent report, calling the PERSIAN GULF the “Arab Gulf”! Perhaps this is a new kind service to the Arab sheikhs of the PERSIAN GULF!,” writes user Muhammad Rizo Shabonkoreh, sharing the report from TV Tajikistan.

Tajik journalist and researcher Obid Shakurzoda wrote an entire article in response to the actions of TV Tajikistan.

“The Persian Gulf is a gulf that is a continuation of the Gulf of Oman, located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula, connected to the Indian Ocean to the east through the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf of Oman, and the Arabian Sea, and to the west it stretches to the mouth of the Arvand River (Shatt al-Arab), formed by the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and the addition of the Karun River. Iran, Oman, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Bahrain are located on the shores of the Persian Gulf.,” he writes.

 According to Obid Shakurzoda, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) registered the name Persian Gulf as the property of Iran on October 22, 2018, after which no state, country, or organization can refer to it by any other name.

Tajik journalist Bobodzhoni Shafee also reacted to this report.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan is the originator of this mistake. In their message, they wrote:

“On July 18, the Founder of Peace and National Unity – Leader of the Nation, President of the Republic of Tajikistan, the esteemed Emomali Rahmon, arrived in the city of Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to participate in the first meeting of the Summit of Heads of State of Central Asia and Arab countries,” the journalist writes.

For Rahmon, only his personal interests and benefits matter, not the interests of the nation, country, or people. If calling this bay “Arabian Gulf” serves his personal interests, then why not say “Arabian Gulf” as a goodwill gesture to the Arabs and for a few insignificant dollars? He will say it, and loudly. Is this an outright falsification of history? For Rahmon, all of this is unimportant. All these books written about the Aryans and their histories, all of this is unimportant. Where is Rahmon, and where are the Aryans? Rahmon is the one who called Karimov “father,” as he brought him to power. We must not forget this,” writes activist Sayidyunus Istoravshani.